Sunderland’s Phillip Coulson during the third leg of the men’s 4x100m medley heats

The University of Sunderland’s swimmers were back for the afternoon session of the BUCS Nationals Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

Androniki Mazi and Ruby Laurence both swam in the women’s 50m freestyle heats, with Mazi finishing third with a time of 32.11 seconds, while Laurence finished ninth in her heat, clocking in at 41.7 seconds.

The men’s 50m freestyle heats included Sunderland’s Stephen Mitchinson and Glen Lowes in the same heat, with Mitchinson finishing third with a time of 34.1 seconds.

Mitchinson said: “I thought that my race could have went better. The dive at the beginning was not as good as I had hoped for.”

Lowes shortly followed his team-mate as he finished fourth, clocking in at 35.33 seconds.

“I achieved a personal best which was what I was hoping for,” said Lowes.

“Despite slowing up at the final 15 metres, I am very happy to get a PB.”

Elsewhere, Josh Campbell was left disappointed as he finished in seventh for the men’s 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:34.87.

He said: “I was very frustrated with myself after the race. When I realised I finished 17th overall in the event, I am disappointing to have missed out on the final.”

The 4x100m medley relay team finished seventh in their heat, finishing in a time of 5:01.60.

The team of David Crosier, Andrew Davison, Phil Coulson and Josh Campbell were in third place halfway through the second leg, however, the four men struggled to deal with stamina and fell down the leaderboard towards the end.

Tomorrow is the final day of swimming action for the University of Sunderland as seven swimmers look to end the weekend on a high.

The men’s 100m freestyle will include 20-year-old Jack Archer competing in the heats.

Campbell will compete in his third and final race of the championships in the men’s 100m breaststroke, while Mazi and Laurence will both take part in the women’s 50m butterfly.

Davison and Coulson will be competing in the men’s 50m butterfly heats before Crosier ends Sunderland’s swimming heats at the 2016 BUCS Nationals in the men’s 100m backstroke.